Beltway Blog — Gardner sends $218k back to the U.S. Treasury

Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, gave $218,274 back to the U.S. Treasury because he did not spend his entire office budget.

WASHINGTON — Rep. Cory Gardner sent back $218,274 to the U.S. Treasury because he didn’t spend his entire office budget in 2011.

Gardner, R-Yuma, said returning money was an example of how to act in Washington and shows “the American people that we are serious about controlling our debt and balancing the budget.”

Gardner’s 2011 House office budget was $1.4 million — which means he spent roughly $1.2 million to run his district and DC offices, pay his staff and travel back and forth from Colorado to Washington for work.

Each Congressional office has a slightly different budget based on the geographical size of the district and its proximity and facility to get to and from DC. House office budgets have been pared this Congress and Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Aurora, has proposed cutting them more, along with slashing Congressional pensions.

The 4th District has always underpaid the staff members. The 4th is the cheap-big-box-store of Congress.
This means that Cory failed to spend his budget intelligently for the development of Colorado and for the active promotion of our economy. To return the money so others can spend it defeats the idea of having a representative in Congress.The next 4th rep should be required to submit a budget for all Colorado 4th citizens to see how they will be represented in Congress.Thanks Cory.

Lynn Bartels thinks politics is like sports but without the big salaries and protective cups. The Washington Post's "The Fix" blog has named her one of Colorado's best political reporters and tweeters.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.